Forest City Closes Eighth and Final Joint Venture with QIC for Retail Mall Portfolio

CLEVELAND, Jan. 7, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Forest City Enterprises, Inc., (NYSE: FCEA and FCEB) today announced that it recently closed a joint venture for Charleston Town Center, a 892,000-square-foot regional mall in Charleston, West Virginia, with QIC, one of the largest institutional investment managers in Australia. The closing, which took place in December, is the final closing between the two companies for a portfolio of eight of Forest City's regional retail malls. Forest City previously announced the closing of the other seven joint ventures in September.

Under the joint venture, Forest City contributed its current 50 percent ownership interest in Charleston Town Center to the joint venture in exchange for a 51 percent interest in the joint venture, and QIC acquired a 49 percent interest in the joint venture for cash. Forest City's existing 50 percent partner in the mall, an affiliate of Youngstown-based Cafaro Company, retains its current ownership interest.

"We're pleased to complete this final closing in our strategic capital partnership with QIC. This overall partnership is one of our largest such initiatives to date, and an exciting opportunity to work with an experienced global investor to enhance these already strong retail centers," said David J. LaRue, Forest City president and chief executive officer.

As Forest City noted in its September press release, the eight-mall transaction values the overall portfolio at approximately $2 billion, and generated total liquidity for Forest City of approximately $350 million, after transaction costs. Forest City has used the substantial majority of the liquidity to reduce debt as part of its strategic deleveraging efforts.

In addition to Charleston Town Center, the other regional retail malls in Forest City/QIC joint ventures are Victoria Gardens in Rancho Cucamonga, California, Mall at Robinson near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Promenade in Temecula, California, Galleria at Sunset in Henderson, Nevada, Antelope Valley Mall in Palmdale, California, Short Pump Town Center in Richmond, Virginia, and South Bay Galleria in Redondo Beach, California.

About Forest CityForest City Enterprises, Inc. is an NYSE-listed national real estate company with $9.3 billion in total assets. The company is principally engaged in the ownership, development, management and acquisition of commercial and residential real estate and land throughout the United States. For more information, visit www.forestcity.net.